For the first half of the year, shipments were up 3 ½ percent while revenue is up more than 5 percent compared to the first half of 2017.

In terms of global regions, Latin America saw by far the highest growth year-over-year: 14 percent, or more than 2,000 units sold compared to the first half of 2017.

The Asia/Pacific region (including Japan), already the biggest geographical market, grew just shy of 4 percent while Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) saw shipments grow 7.2 percent over the first half of 2017.

Shipments in North America were down by about 3 ½ percent year-over-year.

“New solutions, capabilities, and technologies continue to drive investment in large-format printing equipment on a worldwide basis,” says Tim Greene, research director for IDC’s U.S. Large Format Printer Tracker division. “While some regions and technologies are maturing, we also see that manufacturers and dealers are incentivizing new printer shipments with discounts, bundles, and aggressive promotions.

“A recovery in technology categories like eco-solvent and toner-based printers have run counter to some of the market trends over the past few quarters to create a bit of a surprisingly strong second quarter.”

The report also found that there was some movement among the top five large-format manufacturers. Mimaki overtook Roland DG in terms of second quarter shipments to move into fourth place. The top five large-format printer companies in the second quarter of 2018, in terms of units shipped, were HP Inc., Canon-Océ, Seiko Epson, Mimaki, and Roland DG. HP by itself had nearly 35 percent of all the shipments of large-format printers globally in the second quarter.